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Public schools in South Carolina

796,780 pupils attended 1,277 public schools in South Carolina in 2024–25, in 94 school districts. Its districts spent $14,219 per pupil in fiscal year 2023, against $16,398 nationally.

South Carolina, 2024–25

796.8 thousand
Pupils
796,780
1.6% of the nation's public school pupils.
1,277
Public schools
Operational public schools in NCES’s 2024–25 directory.
14.1
Pupils per teacher
Over the 1,274 schools that report both counts; nationally 15.2.
104
Charter schools
7.8% of pupils.
$14,219
Spending per pupil
Current spending over fall membership, fiscal year 2023.

South Carolina over time

South Carolina's public schools enrolled 769,854 pupils excluding pre-kindergarten in 2024–⁠25, the most in the 11 years NCES's state file holds

Public school membership in South Carolina each fall, 2014–⁠15 to 2024–⁠25: all grades, and excluding pre-kindergarten, which is the line the title reads.

Membership is the October 1 count of pupils on a school’s rolls, as the state reported it to NCES.

Every year here reports its pre-kindergarten pupils.

National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education — NCES Common Core of Data — public school membership by state, 2014–15 onwards

The figures behind this chart
South Carolina's public schools enrolled 769,854 pupils excluding pre-kindergarten in 2024–25, the most in the 11 years NCES's state file holds. Public school membership in South Carolina each fall, 2014–15 to 2024–25: all grades, and excluding pre-kindergarten, which is the line the title reads.
School yearAll gradesExcluding pre-kindergartenPre-kindergarten
2014–⁠15756,523732,24924,274
2015–⁠16763,533738,87924,654
2016–⁠17771,250745,63725,613
2017–⁠18777,507750,50127,006
2018–⁠19780,882753,41427,468
2019–⁠20786,879758,80928,070
2020–⁠21766,819745,81721,002
2021–⁠22780,878755,62925,249
2022–⁠23789,231762,28726,944
2023–⁠24793,860766,39727,463
2024–⁠25796,780769,85426,926
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South Carolina's school districts spent $14,219 per pupil in fiscal year 2023, against $7,587 in 2005, in each year's dollars

Current spending per pupil in South Carolina, fiscal years 2005 to 2023: current spending over fall membership, summed over every district. In each year’s dollars, not adjusted for inflation.

Not adjusted for inflation: a dollar in 2005 bought more than a dollar in 2023, and this chart does not say how much more.

Each year is the release NCES has published for it: provisional for most, final for fiscal years 2019 to 2022. A final release revises the provisional one by well under 1% nationally.

National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education — NCES School District Finance Survey (F-33) — every fiscal year in the current format

The figures behind this chart
South Carolina's school districts spent $14,219 per pupil in fiscal year 2023, against $7,587 in 2005, in each year's dollars. Current spending per pupil in South Carolina, fiscal years 2005 to 2023: current spending over fall membership, summed over every district. In each year’s dollars, not adjusted for inflation.
Fiscal yearPer pupilPupilsRelease
FY2005$7,587701,176Provisional
FY2006$8,129699,027Provisional
FY2007$8,587701,580Provisional
FY2008$9,231710,685Provisional
FY2009$9,261716,736Provisional
FY2010$9,089723,143Provisional
FY2011$8,894725,838Provisional
FY2012$9,089727,186Provisional
FY2013$9,459735,998Provisional
FY2014$9,671745,657Provisional
FY2015$9,885756,523Provisional
FY2016$10,195763,533Provisional
FY2017$10,510771,250Provisional
FY2018$11,080777,507Provisional
FY2019$11,390780,784Final
FY2020$11,764786,855Final
FY2021$12,723766,819Final
FY2022$13,361780,878Final
FY2023$14,219789,231Provisional
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Where South Carolina’s districts got their money, fiscal year 2023

Revenue of all 105 districts in NCES’s finance file, by source. Nationally, 12.6% came from federal sources.

State sources gave South Carolina's school districts 45.5% of their revenue in fiscal year 2023

Revenue of South Carolina's public school districts by source, fiscal year 2023, as a share of their total revenue.

National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education — NCES School District Finance Survey (F-33) — newest fiscal year

The figures behind this chart
State sources gave South Carolina's school districts 45.5% of their revenue in fiscal year 2023. Revenue of South Carolina's public school districts by source, fiscal year 2023, as a share of their total revenue.
SourceRevenueShare of revenue
Federal$2.0 billion13.8%
State$6.6 billion45.5%
Local$5.9 billion40.7%
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The largest districts in South Carolina

By fall membership in 2024–25. Spending per pupil is the same district’s fiscal year 2023 figure from NCES’s finance file, where it reports one.

The 10 largest public school districts in South Carolina, 2024–25
DistrictPupilsSchoolsPupils per teacherSpending per pupil, fiscal year 2023
Greenville 0177,7749215.2$12,375
Charleston 0150,8568313.0$16,635
Horry 0148,6625714.5$13,222
Berkeley 0139,4234616.1$12,810
Richland 0228,8413213.8$14,024
Lexington 0127,0743213.0$13,591
Charter Institute at Erskine26,0142616.6$20,062
Dorchester 0225,9282515.1$11,212
Aiken 0122,9164114.4$11,967
Richland 0121,8144812.1$18,992

City, suburb, town and rural schools in South Carolina

39.3% of South Carolina's public school pupils attended suburban schools in 2024–⁠25

Pupils in South Carolina's operational public schools by the kind of place each school is in, 2024–⁠25: NCES's twelve locales grouped into city, suburb, town and rural.

National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education — NCES Common Core of Data — public schools, newest full school year

The figures behind this chart
39.3% of South Carolina's public school pupils attended suburban schools in 2024–25. Pupils in South Carolina's operational public schools by the kind of place each school is in, 2024–25: NCES's twelve locales grouped into city, suburb, town and rural.
LocaleSchoolsShare of schoolsPupilsShare of pupils
City24319.0%154,75619.4%
Suburb38029.8%312,97439.3%
Town15211.9%82,77410.4%
Rural50239.3%246,27630.9%
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Colleges in South Carolina that take federal student aid

84 colleges in South Carolina are in NCES’s IPEDS universe for 2025–26: 34 public, 24 private nonprofit and 26 private for-profit. They enrolled 315,763 students over twelve months and awarded 28,258 bachelor’s degrees.

South Carolina elsewhere on the Factbook

  • Reported crimeCrime and justice

    Offenses reported to police by type, the trend, and the reporting coverage.

  • Most dangerous cities in South CarolinaCrime and justice

    What each agency serving 25,000 or more reported, ranked. Agency populations overlap, so these do not add up to the state.

  • Prison populationCrime and justice

    People held under the state’s correctional authority, and the imprisonment rate. A different publisher counting a different thing.

  • Arrests by race, sex and ageCrime and justice

    Arrests as the FBI’s participating agencies reported them, with what the figures can and cannot support at the top.

  • Hate crimeCrime and justice

    Incidents reported to the FBI by bias motivation, as counts — the collection publishes no participation share, so there is no rate to compare states on.

  • Federal obligationsFederal spending

    What federal agencies obligated against a place of performance in the state, per resident and by agency.

  • Registered nonprofitsNonprofits

    How many organizations the IRS lists in the state, what they report as revenue, and which kinds of work they do.

  • Payments to doctorsHealth

    What drug and device companies reported paying doctors with a practice address in the state, and the largest recipients.

  • Farm program paymentsFarm subsidies

    What the Farm Service Agency paid through the state’s county offices, by program and by recipient. The offices that administered the payments, not a count of farms: a recipient addressed elsewhere is counted where they were paid.

  • Paycheck Protection Program loansPPP loans

    The PPP loans SBA guaranteed to businesses operating in the state, by county, with how many carry a forgiveness amount and how many were charged off. Loans, not businesses: a business with two draws is two loans.

  • Federal civilian workforceFederal salaries

    Federal civilian employees stationed in the state by agency and occupation, with the pay OPM publishes and the share it withholds.

  • The South Carolina Factbook entryAcross the Factbook

    Every measure the Factbook publishes for this state in one place, each with where it ranks among the others and the record it came from.

The immigration hub has no page for this state: EOIR runs no immigration court here, and CBP publishes by sector and field office, which are its own areas of responsibility rather than a geography. Immigration and the border.

Sources

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), 2024–25; “School District Finance Survey (F-33),” fiscal year 2023; Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).

Data retrieved